Keep Calm and Watch Sherlock
Arthur lay on his bed, tired and absolutely fuming. Some relatives from England were staying with him and his family for the night, having arrived earlier in the evening. What he thought would be a relatively boring night turned into his house being a possible mass murder scene. Not only were these relatives nosy and disrespectful to Arthur and his brothers, but downright destructive when it came to their belongings. Before dinner had even been served, Arthur's oldest brother, Iuan, was ready to thoroughly sock them all. Came dinner, Iuan and Arthur were completely sopped in cold water from the garden hose and their father had to hold Iuan back from killing their unpleasant teenage cousins. Not even ten minutes after, Arthur came downstairs with dry clothes and as calm as he could possibly muster. When everyone thought that would be the end of that, one of the idiots decided to soak Arthur and all of his brothers once again for calling them some rather unkind names that, frankly, Arthur thought they deserved. Things continued to worsen from there, but miraculously it hadn't gone farther than obscene shouting. Nonetheless, their parents, being the so-called gentleman and lady they are, wouldn't allow for those abominations to stay at a hotel when they are "completely welcome here". Thankfully, no one bothered to stay out of their rooms after a tense dinner, leaving everyone in bad spirits and an urge to punch whatever living thing comes through their door.
And lo, here Arthur is now in his third change of clothes and a foul mood. He's too angry to go to sleep, so he just opts for thinking of ways to ruin his cousins' stay in the states.
It's when he thinks of scrubbing the toilet with their toothbrushes before morning that his phone buzzes with a text.
"look outside -Alfred" it simply reads.
Sitting up to look out his window, he easily spots Alfred on his lawn with his car and a big smile. It's near midnight already, so Arthur makes sure to sneak downstairs and go outside quietly. As he slowly shuts the door behind him, Alfred scurries over to greet him.
"What are you doing here? Do you know what time it is, you fool?" Arthur whispers in an irritated voice. Although in truth, he's truly happy to see Alfred.
"Heard from Francis. He saw the whole thing from his house," Alfred answers amusedly. "What surprises me is that those jerks didn't end up in the hospital after what they did to Iuan," Alfred adds with a laugh. "And weirdly enough, you seem pretty calm after..." he drawls, realizing it probably wouldn't do them any good bringing up the evening's events. "If it makes you feel better, I can totally whip up a stink bomb and put it in their car if you want."
It occurs to Arthur that Alfred is here to cheer him up. The fact alone instantly has Arthur feeling in a considerably better mood since Alfred lives more than an hour away when he stays with his dad on the weekends. So that he would come all the way so late to put a smile on his face makes Arthur's heart clench.
"You- Couldn't you have called me about it instead? I mean it'll take you another hour to go home, and is your father even aware that you're here?" He realizes it's pointless to argue since Alfred is already at his doorstep though he tries anyway. "You just... You didn't have to come all this way for me, Alfred." He's still not completely used to being affectionate either, so he rubs his arms and looks down to hide his blush.
Alfred grabs Arthur's hips to pull them together, and for a moment Arthur thinks Alfred will say something charming for his efforts. "What are you talking about? I was at my mom's the whole time!"
Arthur pulls an embarrassing and confused face, which Alfred laughs at, revealing the familiar smell of hamburgers. "That is not true," Arthur realizes. "You smell like those homemade burgers your father makes. Hm, and chips as well?" he says, determined to forget his earlier chagrin.
"Tator tots actually, but you get a kiss for trying." Alfred pecks Arthur's lips with his own, then presses their foreheads together for a moment before running to his car to get something. "Oh hey, I know you prefer the TV series, but I got the new Sherlock movie on DVD." He waves the case with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law on the cover as he returns to Arthur. "Grab some chips or something and I'll put the DVD in- I promise I won't leave crumbs all over your room again." Alfred then mumbles something about Tony Stark before letting himself in Arthur's house.
"W- Wait, Alfred," Arthur warns, grabbing Alfred's arm. "You'll be getting home awfully late if you stay any longer and tired too-"
"So I can sleep at your house, right? I've done so dozens of times!"
"Well yes, but my parents don't know-"
"Would you rather I sleep over at Francis' then?"
That question is enough to make Arthur let go of Alfred's arm to grab some crisps in the pantry. "Go put the DVD in, you idiot. I'll be up in a minute."
A triumphant grin plants itself on Alfred's face. "Looove youuuuu," he sings softly as he makes his way upstairs to Arthur's bedroom.
Arthur sighs as he watches Alfred's back, but a small smile finds its way on his lips too. He grabs some drinks from the refrigerator as well since he knows Alfred will ask later, and as he hurries to join him for their movie night, Arthur forgets why Alfred had visited in the first place.
A/N: Did this pointless drabble since I was fuming immensely into the early morning about what unreasonable massive douche-monkeys my step-brothers were to my family, and especially to me, last night. /needless mini-rant I'm sorry for all the awkward everything since this was written while I was at my angriest (in that I get unusually foul-mouthed and don't exactly have the best judgement, meaning not so good in writing either). That seriously does happen only once a year, but what do you know, it's got me wanting to get back to writing again.
Thank you for reading, and special thanks to Kanchan for always being my own Alfred.
Let it be known that "Arthur" did in fact scrub the toilet bowls with their toothbrushes the next morning. .